St-Pierre dominates Diaz, retains welterweight title at UFC 158

Georges St-Pierre, left, from Canada pins Nick Diaz from the United States to the canvas during their UFC 158 title fight in Montreal, Saturday, March 16, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes.

MONTREAL – With each victory, each near-flawless performance, each vanquished foe, Georges St-Pierre builds his legend as one of the greatest competitors in Ultimate Fighting Championship history.

Nick Diaz is now part of St-Pierre’s tale. And what a story that chapter was.

In a showdown St-Pierre said he wanted more than any since he earned a championship rematch against UFC legend Matt Hughes more than five years ago, the 31-year-old St-Pierre (24-2) vanquished antagonist Nick Diaz in the welterweight title main event of Saturday’s UFC 158. In front of a capacity crowd of 20,145 paying $3.7 million at Montreal’s Bell Centre, St-Pierre controlled the 25-minute contest from start to finish on his way to a unanimous-decision victory over Diaz (27-9, 1 NC). All three judges scored the match 50-45 in favour of the hometown hero, whose every move was greeted with roars.

“It was a fight that everybody wanted to see, a fight that I wanted to have as well. I’m happy it’s finally done,” said St-Pierre, who admitted at the post-fight press conference that the head games surrounding the fight – including yelling and confrontations backstage hours before the bout about St-Pierre’s hand wraps – were “very demanding, very stressful … It was a tough fight for me.

“I have to go to another chapter of my career.”

When Diaz returned to UFC in June 2011, he and St-Pierre were set to meet at UFC 137 that October but Diaz was lost the title shot after missing media events in Toronto and Las Vegas. Diaz riled up the champion, however, accusing him of faking a minor knee injury and ducking the welterweight contenders. An attempt to rebook the bout for UFC 143 in February 2012 also failed, after St-Pierre suffered a more serious torn anterior cruciate ligament that sidelined him for one year. Also during that time, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites at UFC 143 and was suspended for 12 months.

Once both were finally healthy and able to compete again, St-Pierre insisted he face Diaz before anyone else. He felt insulted when Diaz questioned his heart. He was angry that Diaz confronted him in a Las Vegas hotel during UFC 137 fight week, when St-Pierre was only there as an observer.

In the last month, Diaz has accused St-Pierre of using steroids, bemoaned the fact St-Pierre has more endorsements and media opportunities, and wondered why most fans – even soccer moms near his home in Stockton, Calif. – root against him. St-Pierre, meanwhile, seemed more agitated than he’s ever been. He appeared determined to let Diaz know that he wasn’t afraid of him, at one point calling him an “uneducated fool.”

It made for an intriguing buildup to the fight. The only part of their tale that wasn’t known was the conclusion.

Diaz figured to have his best shot at victory if he could get the fight standing, where he could use his high-quality boxing and overwhelm St-Pierre by sheer quantity of punches. In his last nine fights, Diaz has averaged 8.28 significant strikes per minute, more than any UFC fighter in that time. St-Pierre, meanwhile, had won his previous 10 fights thanks largely to some of the best wrestling in the sport and a powerful ground game. He’s landed the most significant strikes (1,048) and total strikes (2,188) in UFC history, with a 78.1 per cent takedown rate, best in company history.

St-Pierre was indeed dominant with his takedowns but he was also quicker to the punch, especially in the first three rounds. St-Pierre, refusing to be emotional and get goaded into a brawl, took Diaz down within 15 seconds of the fight starting and kept Diaz on the mat the entire first round, landing elbows and short punches. The second round was more of the same, although it took St-Pierre 40 seconds to score the takedown and keep the action there. Diaz defended takedown attempts better in the third round and in the final minute was starting to land some punches, at which point GSP quickly landed a takedown to ride out the round.

Diaz talked trash and taunted St-Pierre throughout the night, trying to goad him into a brawl. He greeted St-Pierre at the cage door rather than wait in his corner, he lowered his hands daring St-Pierre to knock him out, and more than once asked St-Pierre if “that’s all you got?” But St-Pierre stayed calm and stuck to his game plan, keeping out of boxing range when they were standing and going for a takedown when the opening was there.

“He fought a perfect fight,” said UFC president Dana White.

Diaz was in St-Pierre’s face after every round, including nearly slapping him at one point. White thought Diaz should have been docked a point for that, but Diaz said he didn’t intend to make contact.

“I was just being really mean out there,” said Diaz. “I wanted him to try to hurt me, to finish me.”

When the fight was over, Diaz shook hands with St-Pierre and raised the champion’s arm. They even exchanged a smile, though St-Pierre admitted he wasn’t sure how Diaz would react when he went to shake his hand.

“There is some sort of camaraderie,” between combatants after such a fierce battle, added St-Pierre.

“You put on a show together, you give everything you have.”

Diaz, who in the hours after the fight alternated between discussing retirement and saying he wants big-money fights to keep going, gave credit to St-Pierre but insisted that he things would be different if they met again.

“He’s a great fighter. He does what it takes to win,” said Diaz, later saying to St-Pierre, “As long as I’m here right now, I want a rematch. I think I can beat you.”

With the victory, St-Pierre extended to 11 the second-longest winning streak in UFC history. He now holds the record for most welterweight title defences, with eight, breaking a tie he held with UFC legend Matt Hughes. In addition, he also tied middleweight champion Anderson Silva for most championship fights won, with 11. His eight straight title defences are second-most in company history, behind Silva’s 10.

He was looking forward to a nice vacation following Saturday’s fight. After beating Carlos Condit in November, St-Pierre travelled to Paris and also Marrakech, Morocco. He told few people where he was going. (“Turn off my cell phone, go somewhere nobody knows, nobody cares,” he said in a recent interview.) He also used his time off to take in some movies and eat whatever he wanted, devouring plates of barbecue chicken and French fries, Coke and chocolate cake.

Before he has to start thinking about No. 1 contender Johny Hendricks, or is questioned more about a potential dream fight against middleweight champion Anderson Silva, St-Pierre was anxious for a bit more of that relaxation time, to get away from the spotlight. He takes his break with peace of mind, knowing he had dominated a talented, dangerous veteran in Diaz.

“The important thing for me, I feel very happy I won,” he said.

“I win the fight. I fought the best I could.”

In other pay-per-view matches at UFC 158:

* The last time Johny Hendricks was in Montreal, he thought a 46-second knockout was enough to earn him a welterweight title shot. It wasn’t. But a match-of-the-year contender on Saturday night did the trick.

Hendricks (15-1) beat Carlos Condit (28-7) in the UFC 158 co-main event, a three-round slugfest in which both fighters landed their best shots only to see the other answer back each and every time. All three judges scored the match 29-28 for Hendricks in as close a unanimous decision as possible.

UFC president Dana White confirmed the Hendricks was the unquestioned No. 1 challenger to St-Pierre.

“I believe I’ve got better wrestling than (St-Pierre). I did it since I was five … Also, I hit harder than him. That’s a proven fact. I’m just excited for the opportunity. Hopefully I can finish him. That’s my goal,” said Hendricks.

* Jake Ellenberger (29-6) remained in the middle of the welterweight title picture, landing a left-right combination to the nose of Nate Marquardt (35-12-2) before finishing him on the mat with a right hand to the temple at 3:00 of the second round.

* Friends turned foes for one night, as Chris Camozzi (19-5) beat Calgary native Nick Ring (13-2) via split decision in a middleweight bout. All three judges scored the match 29-28, with two giving the nod to Camozzi.

“I thought I did enough to win but you never know when you leave it to the judges,” he said.

* In a lightweight match between former contestants on The Ultimate Fighter, Montreal’s Mike Ricci (9-3) was awarded unanimous scores of 30-27 over Colin Fletcher (9-3).

“I grew up wanting to win in the octagon, and I’ve spent six years on a road of blood and sweat to make sure I got here,” said Ricci, who lost his debut in December.

In preliminary bouts at UFC 158:

* Popular Montreal veteran Patrick Cote (20-8) slugged out a victory in his welterweight debut, getting unanimous 29-28 scores from all three judges against Bobby Voelker (24-9). Voelker clearly won the third round but each of the judges gave Cote the first two razor-thin rounds.

“I thought I won the first two rounds, but it was a good, competitive, close fight,” said Cote, who said he felt good at his new weight but “got real tired after the second round and he pushed me around in the last round … This is a learning process for me, and I will work on that with my trainers and try to make sure this doesn’t happen next time.”

* In a bout that may have been stopped prematurely, Darren Elkins (17-2) beat Oshawa’s Antonio Carvalho (15-6) via TKO at 3:06 of the first round in a featherweight contest.

Elkins dropped Carvalho to his knees, but Carvalho quickly bounced back up. In the process of Carvalho getting off his knees, however, referee Yves Lavigne waved the fight off.

“He was hurt for sure but after I dropped him he popped back up, and I don’t think the referee put himself in the position to see that. I feel bad for him, but, of course, I am going to say that I would have stopped him anyway,” said Elkins.

*Lethbridge native Jordan Mein (27-8) showed why he’s considered one of the top young fighters in the sport, surviving an early submission attempt by wily veteran Dan Miller (14-7) before landing a vicious head-body combination that led to a TKO victory at 4:42 of the first round in a welterweight bout.

Mein, who started competing professionally at the age of 16 and made his UFC debut on Saturday at the age of 23, walked away, cool and collected, from the fallen Miller as if it was his 10th UFC win and not his first.

“Fighting in the UFC for the first time was just an awesome experience. I had a lot of pressure on myself in the octagon for the first time, coming in from Strikeforce,” said Mein.

* Montreal’s John Makdessi (11-2) came on strong in the final two rounds, using a quick jab, solid counterpunching and stiff leg kicks to post a unanimous decision over Daron Cruickshank (12-3). All three judges scored the bout 29-28.

“That was a tough fight,” said Makdessi. “The best is yet to come but right now, I just want to see my family.”

* Rick Story (15-6), coming off three losses in his past four bouts, looked more like the fighter who had a six-fight winning streak between 2009-11, knocking out Quinn Mulhern (18-3) at 3:05 of the first round in a welterweight match.

“I’ve been working hard to get back to where I was at and it felt great to win like that,” said Story. “I wanted to get out here and put on a show … work my way back up.”

* T.J. Dillashaw (8-1) scored with a high knee to the temple of Issei Tamura (7-4) and finished him with seven punches on the mat, getting a TKO victory at 26 seconds of the second round in a bantamweight bout.

* George Roop (13-10-1) earned a unanimous decision over Rueben Duran (8-5-1) in the evening’s bantamweight opener. Two judges scored the match 29-28, while the third had it 30-27.

“I got rocked a couple of times in the first round,” admitted Roop. “I won the last two rounds. I managed to get back into it but I’m not that happy with my wrestling. I got work to do in the gym, but I will be back better next time.”

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.